Rising Up
by Let Go of My Faygo
Summary: Pinata Island is always growing. Whether it's new gardens or new relationships, there is always something growing. Sometimes for the greater good... other times, not as much.
1. Chapter 1

It was an understatement to describe Pinata Island as simply "Beautiful."

Every morning the sun would rise in the east, and dawn would set over the island. The flowers would begin to bloom, the dew that had set upon them the night before gently shaking off onto the ground below. The Candaries would begin to sing softly, and the other pinatas would rise out of their homes, ready to start their day. There were no words that would describe the splashes of yellow, orange, and red that mixed into the sky, slowly turning blue by the hour as the sun rose. There really wasn't a word that could describe the beauty of the island, other than-

"Disgusting," muttered a cold voice, one that would chill you to the bone upon first whisper. Hidden within the morning mist was a face, a truly ugly face that anyone would dread to see. The mask was bright red, with a face so distorted you would think it was broken, and with teeth so crooked your face would turn the same color as them upon first glance. Wearing clothes that were so worn they were tearing, it was none other than Dastardos, the infamous Pinata Hunter.

He couldn't stand mornings. The light would creep through the holes in the twisted tree he lived in, and they would shine against his face and force him to wake up. Even though he was half dead and had no need for sleep, he would just lie there and pretend, since he did enjoy the feeling of being asleep. Thankfully he had to get up that morning, since there was an "appointment" he had to get to.

His feet gently slid across the wet grass, flicking off every last bit of dew that was left on the green blades. His good eye scanned the garden before him, one that was taken over not to long ago. The gardeners had taken over that garden only two weeks ago, and were still in the beginning stages. Of course, with who the land had belonged to before, there was no way it would ever look the same as it did before.

Not that Dastardos' boss would allow it anyhow.

Dastardos floating through the garden in complete silence. It was small, since they were not able to obtain all the land in the beginning. Dastardos glanced around, and noticed something right off of the bat.

One of them was already awake.

He was just a young boy, no older then fourteen at least. His hair was long and messy, and was as bright as a buttercup flower. It fell just over his ears, and his bangs were only kept out of his eyes by a black headband, and he still had yet to get a mask. He was sitting on his knees, patting the soil around the daisy flowers in front of him. He had no idea he was being watched.

Dastardos smirked, knowing that this kid wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him now.

"Well well, getting an early start, are we?" Dastardos cooed. The kid jumped, turning his upper body around while his legs remained un-moving. His dark blue eyes were wide, although they did not seem fearful.

"Whoa, dude, you scared me," He said, a smile on his childish face. Dastardos frowned slightly, remembering that this kid probably hasn't heard a thing about him. He was new to the island anyway.

"Um... Who are you?" The kid asks, now frowning. Dastardos smirked, floating around behind the kid, almost to where he couldn't turn around to look. The kid began to feel a little uneasy. Most residents he had met on the island were all usually cheerful and made him feel like he should be there. But something was off about this guy. Not because of the floating, but something about the bad aura he gave off gave him goosebumps, like he should just run away.

Not that it was possible for him to run away.

"You haven't heard about me? That's quite a shock," Dastardos continued, his eyes gazing across the ground. He could hear whimpers, the sad pleas of a dying pinata. They were faint, but he could hear it. It was close.

"How?" The kid asked, looking down back at the daisies. He wanted someone to come out right now, to make this creeper go away. His breathing began to shake when the faint humming began. Cold and chilling, just like Dastardos' speaking voice. The kid looked over slowly, watching as Dastardos began to poke around at a large lump. It was a woolly brown blanket, hiding something underneath. The kid knew what was underneath, watching for a mere moment as there was rising in the blanket before it descended.

"Um, sir? I wouldn't do that if I were you," the kid warned, his brows rising. Dastardos looked over, a nasty looking smirk on his face.

"Hiding something from me, are we? Even as a newbie, you should know better," Dastardos said, leaning forward to grip the blanket. The kid bit his lower lip.

"Seriously, you really-" But it was too late. Dastardos pulled the blanket away, to reveal...

A naked man.

"What in the name of _hell?_" Dastardos exclaimed, throwing the blanket back down. He shook his head quickly, trying to shake the horrible image from before out of his mind. The kid smacked his forehead, shaking his head slightly.

"I told you so," he said, now pinching the bridge of his nose. Dastardos snapped his attention back over to the kid, his face showing his clear disgust. It took him a moment before he was even able to speak again.

"What kind of garden is this?" He exclaimed, irritation in his voice. The kid's cheeks flushed pink.

"Sorry. Cameron likes to sleep naked," he said, his blue eyes glaring as the older boy sat up. Like him, he had no mask of his own yet. His hair was long as well, only it was straight and dark brown instead of blonde. His skin was tan, and a splash of freckles covered his nose and cheeks. His eyes were light green, and looked quite tired.

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily, yawning as he did so. He looked over at Dastardos, blinking a few times.

"... Who's the weirdo?" Cameron, as he was called before, asked as he started to stand up. The kid looked away, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Dude, you need to start wearing pants to bed. Weirdo or not, we have a visitor!" He exclaimed. Cameron stuck his tongue out, holding the blanket just above his private area.

"Chill out Hunter. Jesus, can't a man be naked in his own garden," Cameron muttered, walking away. He walked behind the apple tree, and pulled down the clothes that were hanging from a low branch above him. The kid, known as Hunter, frowned.

"Okay, sure, just leave me with the creepy stranger," Hunter yelled quite loudly. Dastardos crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. He was called creepy all the time, and the words no longer phased him in any way.

"Aw, you scared, little boy?" Dastardos mocked. Hunter grimaced, scooting away. Dastardos raised a brow, wondering why the kid wasn't trying to stand up and run, like most gardeners did. With a slight shake of his head, he could finally see what he was looking for.

A sick, pathetic little Bunnycomb.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hunter exclaimed, watching as Dastardos floated over to the Bunnycomb. He had no idea that the pianta was sick. Without his alert system nearby, Hunter could only watch.

"Stay away from him!" Hunter shouted, planting both of his hands on the ground and pulling himself forward. His hand reached out to grab the Pinata Reaper, and was astonished when his hand went right through him. A cold chill shot through his body, and Hunter pulled back, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Nice try, kiddo," Dastardos said as he chuckled, bringing his stick down. Hunter's eyes widened as the Bunnycomb was cracked open, it's candy spilling out everywhere. He was speechless, his mouth just agap. Dastardos merely sniffed, leaning down and picking up the largest piece of candy in the scattered pile. It was wrapped in a blue wrapper, representing the pattern the Bunnycomb had. He stuffed it into his pocket, looking down at Hunter. He noticed that the kid's hand was still up, and with a snarky smirk, he gladly took it.

"By the way, I am Dastardos," He said in a fake-sweet tone. "The pleasure is all mine." He snatched his hand back, laughing hysterically as he floated back to the twisted tree. Hunter paid no attention, watching as the discarded remains of his Bunnycomb began to slowly drift upward, floating their way to the outer perimeter of the garden. Slowly the pieces stitched back together, creating the same Bunnycomb as before. Only this time, it was black and white, instead of blue.

"..." Hunter didn't have much to say as he watched the Bunnycomb hopped away. Even though it wasn't the only pinata in the garden, that Bunnycomb was the first one he managed to get, having to grow a bunch of carrots to even lure the thing in. Now all his hard work was gone, all because he hadn't noticed it getting sick.

"Okay, so I got some pants now- Hey, where did the creepy midget go?" Cameron asked, walking back out from behind the apple tree. He looked down at the ground. "... And who the heck exploded?"

* * *

**Yes, a wonderful way to end the chapter, don't you think? xD**

**Yes, I know I said once that I was going to quit fanfiction, and I abandoned this account. Well, I am now returning, with fresh new ideas and OCs. Seiko, Dustin, and Maddie all mysteriously died... or disappeared. However you want to look at it :P**

**Anyway... Just introducing a few new OCs here... with more to come... um... review?**


	2. Chapter 2

Leafos could always tell if something was wrong.

"Are you alright? You have been very quiet this morning," she commented, her gloved hands folded neatly over one another. Her head tilted to the side, her eyes watching Hunter carefully. By the way his tired eyes looked and the Juicygoose bumps on his exposed arms, something had clearly spooked him.

Although, his only reply was, "We lost our Bunnycomb."

"Aw," Leafos said, sounding quite sympathetic. Even though a Bunnycomb was very low level pinata, it was always hard to lose the first one you ever have become resident in your garden.

"Those Pretztails can be quite sneaky. If it makes you feel better, Pretztails are pretty good for beginning gardeners," Leafos said in an encouraging tone. Hunter shook his head.

"It wasn't a Pretztail," Hunter mumbles, picking at the ground with his fingers. He had been picking at the grass for hours, tearing quite a bit of it up. He always had a tendency to pick at things when something was wrong, whether it was food, grass, or the loose strings that hung off of his clothing. He pulled his hand from the ground, examining his fingernails, now caked with layers of dried mud.

"Well, then what happened?" Leafos asked. She had no idea what it could have been. The Bunnycomb was only a resident for a short amount of time, so it couldn't have gotten so upset in a short amount of time for it to leave. If a Pretztail didn't get to it-

"It got sick," Hunter continued. "I didn't see it... I was just checking on the flowers, and I wasn't paying attention." Leafos nodded, listening carefully. Deep down, her gut started to feel uneasy, since she was just figuring out what had set the young gardener off.

"I didn't hear it squeaking or anything. I heard nothing, to be honest. I just started to feel uneasy, and-"

"It was Dastardos, wasn't it?" Leafos asked, cutting him off, which was something she didn't do often. She just couldn't bear to hear the story. She always cringed at the stories of the young gardeners losing their pinatas to the heartless reaper, feeling just awful for them and the poor sick pinatas.

"Well... yeah, actually," Hunter said, now looking up at the older woman. "Do you know him?" Leafos shook her head, her bushy pigtails brushing against her shoulders.

"Not exactly. I only know of him," She starts. "He's a heartless soul who wonders around, breaking open sick pinatas with his pinata stick."

"Oh," Was the only word Hunter mumbled. He gently bit on his lower lip, glancing at the ground. If only he had grabbed his alert system when he woken up- maybe he could have called someone. Or at least thrown it at Cameron for just walking away like that and leaving him with a so-called reaper.

"Okay buddy, here we go!" Speaking of Cameron, the older teen finally appeared, walking towards them. In from of him was a wheelchair, one that was made of metal instead of wood. It squeaked slightly as he pushed it across the grass, a few blades actually getting stuck on it. Hunter looked at his brother curiously.

"Why did you get my wheelchair?" Hunter asked. Cameron just smiled, walking out from behind.

"Because we are going to go to town and getting some more carrot seeds," The older brother said. Hunter chuckled, still looking a little confused.

"Why?"

"To get you a new Bunnycomb, of course," Cameron said. "Can't garden with a frowny face."

"Well, thanks, but I think I want to stay here. I want to find out how it got sick in the first place. Gotta think about the other pinatas too," Hunter said, watching as two Mousemillows scampered on past him. Cameron frowned, crossing his arms.

"Oh come on, you aren't going to make me do it myself, are you?" He asked. "Besides, I already got the wheelchair."

"I will be fine. Besides, it's only three seeds- six if you want to get two of them," Hunter said. "Besides, I need to watch over the Mousemillows too. We don't want Syrupents in here," Hunter said, referring to Cameron's hatred of snakes. Cameron grumbled, shaking his head.

"Gotcha. Well, it's here if you need it," Cameron said, patting the metal chair. Leafos looked over at the older brother, chewing her lip slightly.

"Um, if it would be okay, would you mind if I came with you?" Leafos asked, before shooting Hunter a glance. "I mean, unless if you need help here." Hunter shook his head, smiling.

"No, I got it. I don't want to be a third wheel," He said, his smile turning into a smirk. Leafos didn't quite understand what he meant, but Cameron just burst out laughing.

"_Third wheel! _I get it. Good one," He said, wiping a tear from his eye. Hunter raised his blonde brow, since he didn't quite get it. When it did hit him, he simply rolled his eyes, unamused by his brother's wheelchair joke. As he turned back to his plants, Cameron turned to Leafos, wiggling his eyebrows as he walked off. Leafos made a face, as she always did whenever Cameron would wiggle his brows or wink at her. He wasn't exactly her type.

"Alright, we should be back shortly," Leafos said, waving to Hunter. "Just alert me if something is wrong!"

"Will do," Hunter replied, not making any sort of eye contact. He just smiled a little bit, remembering that his older sister back at home was the same way towards him whenever she had to leave.

A few paces outside the garden, Cameron had put his hands on the back of his head, whistling contently. The actions of that morning did not seem to phase him in the least bit, despite how embarrassing it was for a stranger to see him sleeping naked.

_Oh well, _he thought, sighing a bit as he did.

"Cameron, wait up a second," Leafos called out, walking quickly to catch up to him. Cameron turned around, his green eyes flashing a bit as she caught up a bit.

"Look Leafos, if you just wanted to hang out with me, you could have just-"

"Where were you this morning?" Leafos asked, interrupting his thought. She was not in the mood for listening to Cameron make remarks.

"Uh... well, I was sleeping next to the Blackberry bush like I always do," He said nonchalantly. Leafos squinted her eyes a bit, as if he was lying.

"And?"

"Well, then I woke up because my blanket was taken off of me."

"Go on."

"Uh, then I saw a floating midget talking to Hunter, and then I got dressed," Cameron finished, making a weird face at her. What, was he being interrogated or something?

"You mean you left Hunter out there with some creep?" Leafos asked, her tone sounding quite angry. Cameron gulped. Angry women was not something he could deal with.

"Yeah. He didn't look harmless. Just looked like he was on some serious meth or something," he answered calmly. "I mean, at first I was a little concerned, but then again, Hunter is _way _too smart to buy any sort of drugs-"

"You left him out there _alone _with Dastardos?" Leafos asked, her tone now sounding more shocked than angry. Cameron's relaxed expression from before started to turn a little more serious.

"Who's Dastardos?" He asked. Leafos smacked her forehead.

"The creepy man that was in the garden this morning," She said, her blue eyes starting to look a little sad now. "He's a pinata reaper."

"A reaper of pinatas?"

"Yes."

"Sounds serious," Cameron commented. Leafos gave him a long look, blinking as she did so.

".. Indeed," She said. "Not only that, but he only reaps pinatas that are sick. Smashes them open and then takes away their life candy."

"Why?"

"Nobody knows," Leafos said, starting to walk towards the village. "Some say that it's because he needs it in order to stay alive. Other say that he brings it back to Pester for the Professor's own wicked reasons."

"... And Professor Pester is...?" Cameron said, twirling his hand around as a gesture to go on. Leafos mentally slapped herself- Cameron and Hunter haven't even met the third Ruffian, or Ruffian 3 as most gardeners called them. How would he know who Pester was?"

"Well... I'll tell you that another day," Leafos said, chewing her bottom lip slightly. Cameron pouted, but decided to leave it. After all, it probably wasn't best to tell his little brother about another possible threat just yet. Besides, with a name like _Professor Pester_, the guy could just be a laughable excuse for a villain. Cameron looked over at Leafos, and noticed the bright smile on her face now.

"Well, enough of the evil talk. I do have a surprise for you, the _real _reason I wanted to come out here," Leafos chirped, holding up a finger. Cameron smirked, leaning forward sightly.

"Leafos, babe, all you had to do was ask if you wanted some time _alone_," the brunette purred. Leafos scrunched her nose.

"That's not what I meant," Leafos murmured with a slight click of her tongue. Cameron blushed slightly, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh. I knew that," He mumbled, not exactly doing all that well to hide his disappointment. Leafos rolled her eyes, continuing her walk towards the village.

"Oh just come on..." She mutters. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

* * *

Petula had to force herself to bite her tongue.

"Aw Gracie, you look so cute!" Cooed the blonde standing behind the counter. Petula knew her well- the gardener Karisa. No one could mistake the thick, bouncing braid that fell over the younger's shoulder, or the two long strands of hair that framed around her pale face, complete with a few cheap bobby pins as a desperate attempt to keep her bangs out of her face. Petula rolled her eyes. Karisa did her hair like an eight year old.

What made it even worse was that she brought, yet again, her annoying Juicygoose, Gracie. Apparently, Gracie was Karisa's most prized pinata, although it was hardly even accessorized besides the buttercup flower on it's head, and right now, the bright red tail bow the gardener was thinking about buying. Petula had to look away, for it was the most standard form of accessorizing she had ever seen. She didn't even want to waist her breath trying to tell her what was wrong with the whole fashion statement.

"I just don't know if that's your color though..." Karisa said, her voice sounding like it was trailing off, like it always did. Gracie turned her long neck around to look at the bow, to see what she thought. She had to agree with the gardener- the deep red didn't match her purple and orange patterns.

With a shake of her head, Karisa turned to Petula. "You wouldn't happen to have it in another color, would you?"

"Sorry. That's the only color it comes in," Petula said, not sounding apologetic at all. She just wanted to blonde to leave so that she could continue her mid-day nap. Her frown grew wider when the front door opened, revealing two more costumers.

"Well, hello there _ladies_," Cameron coos as he walks in. With no mask on, and with Leafos walking in beside him, Petula knew exactly what was going on.

"New gardener huh? Well, you know where the masks are," She said nonchalantly, waving them off. Cameron looked at Leafos.

"A mask? That's why you brought me here?" he asked. Leafos nodded, clapping her hands together.

"Yup! It's a tradition on Pinata Island to wear a mask," she chirps, walking further into the store. Cameron looked even more confused them before, looking around the "Paper Pets." There was so many frills and ribbons hanging off the shelves, as well as a few other accessories beyond those. He frowns, not liking the idea of buying a mask from a pet shop.

"So, you're buying me a mask from this place? So lame..." Cameron muttered. Petula rolled her eyes.

"The masks are on the other side of the store," Petula said, using a warning tone. Karisa put the tail bow back on the counter, looking away from Cameron. She wasn't that good with meeting strangers, and was much to shy to introduce herself to him. She gently nudged Gracie, trying to get the little goose pinata to hurry. Cameron, unfortunately, noticed this and went his way to stop her.

"Hey, no need to be shy," He coos, putting his arm over her shoulder. Karisa's cheeks turned a little pink, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"I really need to get going," She said, smiling as she took his hand off of her shoulder. Cameron chuckled, putting his hands up in defeat.

"Hey, hey, you don't have to be shy around me," he says, winking at her. Karisa raised a brow, turning away.

"Thanks Petula," she said, ignoring Cameron's comment. With Gracie close behind, Karisa hurried out of the store. Cameron clicked his tongue.

"Ah, I guess she wasn't ready for me yet," He mumbles, turning to Petula. With a smirk on his face, he began to speak.

"So, do-"

"Don't even bother," Petula said, holding up a hand to his face. Cameron pouted.

"You didn't even know what I was going to ask," He mumbled, walking away from her. He tried his best not to sulk as he walked over to Leafos, who was holding up a pink flutterscotch mask.

"... I hope that isn't for me," he commented. Leafos looked at him, a bit of a teasing smirk on her face.

"I was only looking at it, while you hopelessly tried to flirt with Karisa and Petula," she mocked, putting the mask away. Cameron childishly stuck his tongue out at her, walking over to the bins. Just with a quick glance, he could tell that these masks weren't top quality.

"Geez, is this it?" he asked quietly, not wanting Petula to overhear. Leafos nods.

"Yes, unless you want to make the long trip out into the city for ones that cost more then a Dastardos shovel," she says, holding up another one. Cameron nods, starting to look through the bins. He found a couple that maybe Hunter may have liked, but knowing that kid, he probably would just want a little eyeband rather than something that would make him stick out.

"Now, you want to puck something that represents you, or your garden," Leafos said, continuing her search. Cameron wasn't paying too much attention, since he was just tossing masks around. A lot of them were quite girly looking, which was what he guessed since the store itself was a little girly.

"I dunno. I might just have to go with a-" then he stopped. At the bottom of one of the bins, he had found the perfect mask. It was a faded red, just like his shirt. Along with orange marks and pointed ears, it only covered half of his face, meaning that there was enough of it left for the ladies. He slipped it on over his face, making sure he could see through the eye holes before he turned to Leafos.

"So, what do you think?" He asked, stroking his chin as if he had a beard there. Leafos turned around, examining the mask. It looked very good on him, especially with his green eyes, although she didn't want to say it. There was no need to boost his ego.

"Do you like that one?" she asked. Cameron nodded, looking at the mirror hanging on the wall. He liked how it looked, and thankfully, it was the perfect size. He walked over to the front counter, and tossed a handful of bills in front of Petula.

"Keep the change, sweetheart," he said, winking as he walked out the front door. Petula raised a brow, picking up one of the green pieces of Leafos sighed, taking out her wallet to grab a few chocolate coins.

"Sorry, he still thinks he's in America," Leafos said, paying for the mask and walking out the front door.

* * *

Karisa sighed, shaking her head as she mentally scolded herself.

_Wonderful impression Karisa, _she thought. _You meet the new gardener and you manage to embarrass yourself. _She pouted, her hands reaching up to fix her purple flutterscotch mask. With her hasty retreat from Paper Pets, it had fallen a little out of place. But what could she do? She didn't even know the guy, yet he was hitting on her.

"Alright Ethan, I need to go build a pinata home. Think you can manage the store on your own for a bit?" Called a very familiar voice. Karisa knew that tone anywhere. It was none other than Willy Builder, the owner of the Builder shop. She looked over, seeing that Willy was standing in the doorway of his own shop. The chubby builder had his toolbox in one hand, while the other was holding the door open as he was talking to whoever was inside.

"Yeah, I can do it," called the person inside. Karisa smiled, while Gracie looked a little confused. The Juicygoose strained her neck a bit, wanting to see who Willy was talking to. Alas, she could not see over him.

"That's my boy. I'll be back in five-ten minutes tops," the builder said, shutting the door. When he turned around, he grins at Karisa.

"Well, if it isn't Karisa! How are you doing?" He calls out loudly, despite her only being a few paces away. Karisa giggled a bit, putting a hand on Gracie's head as she did.

"I'm doing great Mr. Builder," she said cheerfully, returning his grin. Willy nods, flicking at the giant hammer on top of his mask.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go build a helper home for someone," He said. "Ethan's inside if you were wanting to talk to him. Well, see ya later." And with that, the Builder politely pushed past her and made his way south. Karisa stood there a moment, hearing him mutter something about the walk being too far before she walked towards the door. Since she was already here, she might as well say hi to the Builder's son.

Ethan was one of the first friends she had made in the village, besides Leafos of course. He was quite tall, and well built for an eighteen-year-old. He was always found wearing a pair of overalls over a rolled-up shirt, along with the Sweetooth mask that would cover only half of his face. He always was in a relaxed mood, although it didn't take very much to set him off.

After shushing Gracie, to make sure the Juicygoose didn't make any noise, she slowly crept in. Unlike all of the other shops in town, this shop didn't have a bell or any sort of indication of someone being in there. Ethan once told her that was because his dad didn't like it, especially if he was trying to catch up on his sleep during the slower days.

_Speaking of Ethan, _Karisa said, looking over at the counter. Sitting on top of it was none other than Ethan. There was no mistaking the blueish/grey mop on his head. The older teen was pre-occupied at the moment, balancing the end of a hammer on his hand as he tried to balance it. His blue eyes were so focused on it that he had no idea that he had company in the store. Karisa looked down at Gracie, nodding her head. The Juicygoose knew exactly what she meant.

"_SQUAWK!" _Gracie suddenly burst. Ethan let out a yelp, jumping at least a foot off that counter. He landed on the wooden floor with a loud _thud, _and the hammer fell just a few inches away from his head. Karisa and Gracie bother burst out laughing, the gardener having to hold her sides when they started to cramp up quite quickly.

"That... was _so _not funny," Ethan growled, picking himself off of the floor. "I could have died you know, if that hammer had landed on my head." Karisa made a "tsk tsk" sound, shaking her head.

"Well, that's what you get for slacking off while on duty," She teased, walking over to him. She offered him a hand, which he took. She almost fell over though, since she was small and did not have have the strength to pick the taller man up. Ethan sighed, looking down at her.

"So, did you need something?" he asked, already getting over his previous blunder. Karisa shrugged.

"No. I just thought I would just stop by and say hi," she said, watching as Gracie was poking around at the shelves. Ethan nodded, looking over at Gracie as well.

"Were you signing up for the P-Factor or something?" he asked. Karisa shook her head.

"No. I brought Gracie down to Paper Pets. She wanted something to spice up her appearance," She sighs. "Sadly, there wasn't anything that looked right."

"Ah," Ethan responded, looking down at his hammer. He tended to do that whenever Karisa would talk about accessories. He had told the girl many times that she should try out for the P-Factor, being a judge or a contestant, but the girl had a bad case of stage fright. Besides, she would just end up staring at her crush the whole time and forget about what she was supposed to be doing.

"I heard you were going to be in the Pinata races tomorrow though," Karisa said, snapping the builder from his thoughts. Ethan smiled, nodding proudly.

"Yup. It's gonna be a tight competition though."

"How so?"

"Flapjack and I are up against a Horstachio and a Zumbug. Bear's Fizzlybear shouldn't be too much competition, but I might not make first," Ethan said in a very literal tone. Flapjack was a Flapyak, and was Ethan's favorite pinata. Sadly, no matter how much Ethan loves the big pinata, he couldn't give it a more creative name.

"Well, if you talk like that, then you definitely won't win," Karisa scolded. Gracie squawked from behind, as if to agree with the gardener. Ethan chuckled.

"Well, it's-"

"Have more faith in Flapjack. He's pretty fast for a Flapyak, you know," the gardener argued, jabbing Ethan in the shoulder. The builder glared at her, smirking as he did so. After that, there was a small beeping sound.

"Yeah, yeah, excuse me for a minute," he said, walking around Karisa back to the counter. He thought he had heard his alert system go off, and he reached for it. With a quick glance at it, there was a new message on there from a new friend of his.

_Hey Builder! Just got a new mask. Also met two really cute girls at Paper Pets ;) -C_

_"_Of course you did Cameron," Ethan muttered, alerting the brunette right away. Karisa tilted her head to the side, leaning over the counter.

"Who's Cameron?" She asked. Ethan looked up at her.

"He's a new gardener. He's a pretty cool guy," he answered. "Although, he spends a little too much time looking at girls."

"Oh. He sounds kinda like the guy I saw at Paper Pets today. Although that guy was kinda creepy," she said, resting her head on her hand. Ethan raised a brow at her, looking up from his alert system.

"... At Paper Pets?"

"Yeah," Karisa said. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Ethan mutters, starting to type a quick alert to Cameron.

_Good for you bud. Unfortunately, the blonde thinks you're a creep. _-E

_Dude, how did you know one of them was a blonde? _-C

Ethan didn't respond after that, deciding to leave if for now.


	3. Chapter 3

She was so late. Damn, she was very, _very _late.

Karisa was literally sprinting through the village right now. Ethan would be racing soon, and he would never forgive her if she missed it! But it wasn't her fault- Gracie kept fighting with the new Swanana in the garden, and it had taken her forever to separate the two. It didn't help that the Swanana lost and got terribly ill, and Karisa had to wait for Patch to hurry on over to her garden. She couldn't leave the Swanana there in the garden alone. What if _he _came, and Patch hadn't made it?

Needless to say, she was having a very chaotic morning.

_Please don't start without me, please don't- _her thoughts were ceased as she collided into something, or someone by the feel of it. Why, oh _why _did all of this had to happen on today of all days?

"I'm so sorry, I'm just in such a hurry and I-" She was speaking quickly, as if all the words were one. Karisa quickly moved her blonde hair from her face, and her words, or word rather, then halted with a squeak.

"No, no, it should be me apologizing. I wasn't looking where I was going," says Eddie Lizard, the son of the owner of the P-Factor. He was looking down at Karisa with his gorgeous purple eyes, while his nimble fingers worked to move his purple bangs from his face. Karisa's whole face turned as pink as the pattern of a Galagoogoo, as did her blue eyes became so big in shock it would have put a Galagoogoo to shame. Lord have mercy on her, because she had just bumped into the cutest guy in the whole village.

"Miss, are you alright?" Eddie asks, staring at the younger gardener. He was a little worried that he may have hurt her some how, because of the way she was so silent and staring at him with a flushed expression. Karisa shook her head, so quickly that it might have fallen off if she wasn't careful.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," Karisa squeaked, quickly running around him without a look. Lord, oh _lord _why did this have to happen to her on all days? Why did she have to make herself look like a fool in front of Eddie-freaking-Lizard?

_Ugh, this is all Ethan's fault! _She concluded, since it was his race she was trying to hurry too.

* * *

Ethan had no idea of his friends problems, because he was having some of his own. He wasn't one to be nervous about little things like this, especially over a little race.

But this was a little more important than a simple race. It was his Flapyak up against a Horstatio and a Zumbug, some of the faster pinatas around. Not to mention that they both belonged to gardeners who didn't even live nearby, therefore he didn't know a whole lot about them. He didn't want to worry about the fourth runner though. It was just another one of the crazy lady's Whirlms, so there was no way he would lose to it, but at the same time, it would be an embarrassment to only beat a level 1 pinata.

"Don't worry boy, you've got this, okay?" Ethan decides to stay confident as he pats his Flapyak on the side. If he started to act doubtful, then Flapjack would too. This was the pinata's first race, and he knew they were going to win this.

"Hey, Ethan!" a voice calls from behind him. The Builder turned around, and saw Sahari standing a few yards away. She was quite a good friend of his, and unfortunately lived all the way out in the desert. She was in the village today, probably to watch his first race.

"Hey Sahari," Ethan called back, waving his hand up in the air. Sahari ran right on over, stopping just in front of Flapjack. Her wiry brown mop swishes around her head as she came to the sudden stop. She looked upward, and let out a low whistle.

"Wow, he looks pretty pumped," Sahari mentions with a slight laugh. Ethan nods, petting Flapjack's back.

"He should be. It's his first race, and knowing him, the big fella wouldn't like to come second to a Zumbug," The builder says to the desert dweller, having to look down at her. Sahari shook her head, punching Ethan's side lightly, kind of in a playful manor.

"Oh please, don't even start with that. Like he would lose to a stupid Zumbug," Sahari says quite loudly, as if to make sure the Zumbug's owner had heard her. Ethan glanced over at him, and received the dirty look the other gardener. He turned back to Sahari, glaring at her slightly.

"Keep it down Sahari. They don't allow any kind of trash-talk here," Ethan said in a hushed voice. Sahari rolled her eyes, turning away from him.

"Whatever. I'm going to go wait in the stands," she says as she walks away. Ethan lets out a low breath, rolling his eyes slightly. As much as he loved the little desert dweller, she always had a mouth as big as her own ego.

Sahari crossed her arms under her poncho, shivering slightly. She didn't know why, but it always felt a little chilly whenever she would come to the village. She walked along the colorful stands, looking for a good place to sit down. The stands had quite a few people on there, probably people from the neighboring villages where the Zumbug was from. Sadly, the races were always open to people from all around, meaning that random people from all over would appear. Thankfully, there was many people from the village that she knew, such as Lottie and Willy, here to watch their son race, as well as Bart the tinkerer, because he always enjoys betting at the races due to the lucky streak he always seemed to have. To Sahari's surprise, Gretchen, the Pinata huntress, was there at the races, as well as Patch, the pinata doctor. There must not be much going on at the moment for those two to be at a simple pinata race.

Sahari looked over a little more and finally noticed Karisa. The gardener had just walked in, panting as if she had ran three marathons. Little strands of hair had fallen loose from her braid, and her cheeks were so flushed that you could have mistaken it for a sunburn.

"Oh thank goodness it hasn't started yet," Karisa breathes out, bending over with her hands on her knees. Sahari raised a brow, holding back a slight snort as she scampered on over.

"What happened to you? Did you get attacked by a Tigermisu or something?" Sahari asked, examining the gardener a little closely. Karisa looked at her, a tired look on her face.

"No, I had to run all the way here. I have had a _terrible _morning," Karisa started, and she continued to babble away about the morning she had. Sahari, sadly, had to hear about it from every last little detail. Even though Karisa was quite shy when it came to meeting new people, she had a tendency to babble away when she had an issue going on.

"_Alright everyone, the race will begin soon,_" The voice over the intercom booms, causing the ruckus to settle down. Karisa lets out a little squeak and rushes over to a seat, sitting next to Willy Builder. Sahari hurries over as well, not wanting to miss her friend's race.

"Haha, those other contestants don't stand a chance against my son," Willy gloats, reaching his fist out into the air. The excitement that radiated off of the father was enough to share with everyone around, as he was very proud of his son. Lottie just smiled, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the track.

"I just KNOW my son will bring home the GOLD. Imagine how that trophy will look in MY store," Lottie gushed, smiling as she did so. Willy turned his head towards her, a brow on his mask raised.

"The trophy isn't going into your store. It should be going into mine," The builder states in a clear tone of voice. Lottie now shoots him a look, her blue eyes like daggers.

"Why would it go in YOUR workshop?"

"Because, that's where Ethan works, so it would make sense for it to go into mine. Besides, I already built the case."

"Well, then you should put the case into MY store, because you would only make it look like a DRAG in your store."

"What, are you saying my workshop isn't a nice place?"

"Yes! It LOOKS like a shed!"

"Hey Karisa, wanna move down that way?" Sahari asked, pointing to the right of the stands. As soon as the blonde nodded her head, the two scooted down as far as they could, away from the bickering married couple.

Meanwhile, Ethan was preparing for the race still. As a little person took his Flapyak up to the starting line, he couldn't help but start to feel a bit worried about the competition. Normally, Ethan wasn't one to worry, but at this point, it would be stupid not to be. If he didn't win, not only would he disappoint his dad (possibly), but he knew his mother wouldn't let him sleep in his own bed if he didn't give her a golden trophy.

"Hey bro, mind if I stand here?" asked a sarcastic, yet very familiar voice. Ethan almost jumped at the sudden outburst, as it interrupted from his thoughts. He glared down, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to.

"Maddie, what are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be sitting with mom and dad?" Alas, it was his younger sister, Madeline, or Maddie as she was always called. She was much shorter than him, coming up to his torso. With her light brown hair and brown eyes, you wouldn't even know that she was related to him, other than the tanned skin they both shared. Maddie was standing beside him, looking over the tracks with a soda in her hands.

"Sure, because I would love to listen to them bicker about which shop the trophy is going into," The younger Builder says with a slight eye roll. "Besides, I can see better from down here."

"Ugh. Fine," Ethan decided to let her do whatever. Maddie was quite stubborn, and it would be a waste of breath to even try to tell her leave. Maddie leaned against the railing, and couldn't help but smirk as she looked over her shoulder into the crowd.

"Well well well, I see your cheerleaders are here," she says in a teasing tone, shooting a snarky little look at her brother with her Macaraccoon mask. Ethan was a little confused at first, not knowing what she was talking about, and with a glance, he shot her another dirty look.

"Whatever Maddie. Sahari and Karisa are just good- wait, when did Karisa get here?" Ethan asked, turning all the way around. Maddie sighed, lowering her head slightly.

"Oh for the love of Jesus, Ethan, did you even invite any of your guy friends?" Maddie asked while she propped her head up with one hand. Ethan shrugged.

"Not really. Eddie has the P-Factor to worry about, and Sparcticus prefers to stay in the Arctic."

"Mm-hm. I'm sure _that's _why you didn't bother to invite them," Maddie muttered quietly. Truth was, Ethan probably didn't bother to invite them was because then Karisa and Sahari wouldn't bother paying attention to the race. Sahari would be too busy teasing Sparcticus, and Karisa would just sit there and stare at Eddie till he got really uncomfortable. Which hasn't happened yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"_And their off!_" The announcer suddenly calls out. Ethan's attention whipped around, just in time to see the Pinata's take off. The Whirlm was already lost in a cloud of dust as the other three ran fast and hard. Ethan whistled right away.

"Go Flapjack, GO!" He cheered, watching as it was starting to leave the Horstaschio behind, and how the Flapyak was already closing in on the Zumbug. Oh, how proud he was, and how excited he was getting at the thrill of it all. He began to grin widely, and was expecting to hear Karisa and Sahari's cheering.

Only problem was... they weren't paying attention at all.

"It's not funny! Quite laughing at me!" Karisa exclaimed, blushing furiously. Sahari was slapping her little knee, her head hung back as she laughed like a Pieena.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you just ran away like that! He must be all 'Oh my goodness, what was that girl's problem? Can she not handle my girl pants or something?'"

"That is not true, and he does not wear girl pants!" Karisa argued as she buried her face in her hands. She was so embarrassed right now. What made her think it was a good idea to tell Sahari about the first encounter Karisa probably ever truly made with Eddie? All the other times she gets to flustered to even be within a few feet of him, let alone utter a word in his direction.

"Oh, so you do look downward, huh? Sorry to break it to you, but with Eddie, I doubt he has a whole lot down there," Sahari said, as to sound really sorry about it. Karisa gave her a slight glare, which was hard for her to do with her sweet face.

"Why are you insulting him anyway? Isn't he your best friend?"

"Nah, he doesn't care. I call him Girl Pants all the time," Sahari answers slyly. "Then we laugh and drink some soda." While he gives my an annoyed look, Sahari almost added as a joke.

"... I'm sure you do," Karisa says wearily, putting her hand in her pocket to get out her alert system. Her hand felt nothing but the soft fabric of her skirt, and she tried the other pocket.

"Oh no," she whispered. Sahari raised a brow.

"What?"

"I think I lost my alert system..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Eddie was quite confused. For a slight moment, he had forgotten what he was doing, seeing as how his clipboard was knocked out of his hands. He also wondered why that girl seemed to be so nervous around him. After all, the bump was just an accident.

Eddie bent over on the sidewalk, reaching down to pick up his discarded clipboard, covered in purple pen with notes for the next P-Factor. Although, he noticed something right off the bat.

_An alert system? _He thought to himself, picking it up. It was a light lavender color, covered in little stickers of Juicygoose and other little things, and written on the back with permanent marker was the name _Karisa Vanfloss. _It took him a moment to realize that it was probably the girl's alert system, and she must have dropped after bumping into him.

"Oh dear... she was heading for the races, wasn't she?" He mutters to himself, turning around and heading the same direction.


	4. Chapter 4

Hunter felt a little lonely at the moment. Leafos had to go help another new gardener that had arrived a few weeks back, and Cameron was out patrolling the village, probably hitting on girls to the high heavens. This left Hunter alone in his garden, sitting in his wheelchair as he looked around. It was already late in the afternoon, and there was nothing he could do at the moment. All plants were harvested or watered, and the new pond Cameron put in was at the deepest extent. All he could do now was enjoy the lunch that Leafos had made him, and wait for someone to come back to talk to him.

Hunter opened up the worn out paper bag. Leafos was nice enough to make him lunch everyday, since he never really left the garden to get lunch in the village. He pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich, something Leafos made everyday. Not that he minded; it was one of his favorites, as he loved the combination of the meat and the cheese.

Right when he was about to take a bite, he heard a small quack. It confused him at first, because there were no ducks on the island. He leaned forward, looking down in front of his small legs. In front of him looked like a duck, and was covered in black and white patterns. It was looking up at him with big brown eyes, and a cute smile with it's papery bill.

"Oh, hi there. I didn't see you," Hunter says, a smile on his own face. The little duck pinata wagged it's little tail feathers, making another quacking sound. Hunter wished he knew what it was called, because it sure was a cute little guy.

"I bet you're here because of the pond, aren't you?" the little blonde asks, taking a bite from his sandwich. The pinata just stared at the sandwich, or more specifically, the grained loaf that was on both sides of it. Hunter eyed the duck pinata curiously, and it took him only a moment to notice what the little guy actually wanted.

"You're lucky I don't like to eat a whole sandwich," Hunter coos, taking off one of the pieces of bread and handing it to the little pinata. The little duck happily accepted it, filling it's bill right away. Hunter laughed out loud, throwing the other piece of bread for the pinata to have as well. He was content with just eating the meat and cheese on the inside, and he watched excitedly as the little duck pinata gobbled down all the bread as quickly as it could. Hunter just continued to sit there and watch the little pinata peck at the ground to get all the leftover crumbs. The little duck pinata had finished quite quickly, and it had looked up at Hunter for a moment.

"Are you still hungry? I'm sure Leafos' dad will lend me some more- eh?" He stops himself as the little pinata started to change. It's black patterns turned yellow and green, although the white remained the same. It shook it's little wings and lifted itself off of the ground slightly, high enough to land sloppily on his lap. Hunter stared at it a moment, his bright mind slowly comprehending what just happened.

"Wow... somehow I filled out your requirements, huh?" Hunter said, gently petting the duck's head. "No matter- welcome to my garden, little duck!" The duck clapped it's wings together, quacking quite loudly as it tried to dance in his lap. Hunter giggles, and starts coming up with potential names.

"Quackers? No... Ducky is way to unoriginal... How about Donald? He was one of my favorite cartoon characters growing up," Hunter comments, looking down at the pinata. It looked quite content with that name, and decided to lay down and rest it's head down for a little bit. Hunter smiled and slowly stroked Donald's papery feathers. All was quiet for a moment, with the exception of the Mousemellows wondering around and sniffing at everything.

Although, it wasn't long before the uneasiness started to set in.

There was a loud cracking sound behind him, which scared him quite a bit. He turned his head and expected to see Cameron with a large hand print on his face, but there was no site of his older brother. Instead it was an odd, small figure that was kicking the wooden bridge leading into the swamp. It was bright red, had large sharp teeth and odd black markings all over the dark red mask. From his view, it appeared to only be a giant mask with two muscular arms and feet. It had a stringy green ponytail draping down from behind as well, and an angry look in it's acid green eyes as it took it's frustration out on that bridge. Even though he didn't seem to notice the gardener, Hunter still felt a bit intimidated by it.

Suddenly, it flashed an angry look over towards the blonde, causing Hunter to gasp and grasp the wheels of his wheelchair, rotating them so that he moved backwards, away from the... thing. Donald noticed this right off the bat and woke up. The odd red creature just snarled and flexed it's tattooed muscles, stomping it's way into the garden as Hunter's alert system started to vibrate.

It was a message from someone by the name of Professor Pester:

_Oh no! It looks like a Ruffian is coming your way! You had better give it what it wants, or it will wreck quite a havoc!_

Without even thinking twice, Hunter made a quick call.

* * *

Even though it was only mid-day, Sparcticus was quite tired. He had been working hard in his garden all morning, growing all sorts of new Snowdrop flowers and pine trees for his Pinarctic pinatas to frolic around in. Even so, he thought he deserved a little break and decided that maybe a stroll into the village would be nice enough to relax with. He tossed his scarf once more around his neck, ready to start an icy walk to the village, when a loud beeping sound suddenly sounded within his igloo. He nearly slipped and fell over as the beeping continued, clearly unknowing that the sound was his alert system left on the ice-covered coffee he had finally realized it, Sparcticus reached a shaky hand over and picked it up.

"Hello?" He spoke. He was confused as to why it kept beeping, when he realized he forgot to press the talk button.

"Hel-"

"_L-Leafos? I really could use some help right now. There's this weird thing coming, and it looks really scary- A ruffian I think?"_ Spoke a young voice, a child by the sound of it. Sparcticus was quiet for a moment, with a brow raised.

"I think you have the wrong number," He says. There was a startled breath on the other line.

"_Oh my God I am so sorry! I dialed so quickly that I- Hey, get away from me!" _The kid starts to yell. Sparcticus tightened his scarf as he started to walk out of his igloo, a stern look on his face as he walked out into the crunching snow.

"_S-Sir, can you tell me who Pester is? I think he lost his- I said go awa-AH!" _The kid screamed one last time. There was a clashing metal sound, as well as the quacks of a Quackberry and what sounded to be a Ruffian, just before the other line made another beep noise and went silent. Sparcticus continued his walk, putting his alert system in his pocket.

_What an odd call, _he thinks, not even realizing his pace had quickened slightly.

* * *

Hunter groaned out in pain, lifting his head from the ground. His wheelchair was overturned, and mud was all over the right side of his face where it had smacked against the ground. He could still hear the snarls of the Ruffian, meaning it was still around.

"What's your problem?" Hunter growls, sounding quite angry as he forced his upper half up off of the ground. He turned, seeing the Ruffian standing only a mere few feet away, laughing hysterically after it's little "Joke". Hunter looked in front of him, hoping that his alert system was still in tact. Unfortunately, it had impacted the ground hard enough to crack the screen, and he couldn't tell if it was still working or not.

The Ruffian's laughter had stopped when Donald began to squawk loudly, his papery feathers fluffing out in an angry matter. His eyes were narrowed towards the mutant mask, which seemed to anger the Ruffian quite a bit.

"Donald, stop that, leave it alone," Hunter warned, looking back and forth between the two. This Ruffian looked like it wasn't afraid to hurt a little duck like Donald, and Hunter didn't want something to happen to his new friend already. Unfortunately, Donald wasn't going to let the Ruffian's actions get scot-free.

Donald was the first to strike, using his little feathers to lift himself off if the ground. With a few swishes of his lower body, his wings flapped harder and something came flying towards the Ruffian, which Hunter thought looked like a bunch of mini anchors. Although the hit looked direct, the Ruffian was not phased and only looked more angry then before. It's enormous jaw dropped open, and it started to hit the side of his face with his clenched fists. Hunter didn't know what was flying out of it's mouth, only knowing that it looked red and quite disgusting.

"Donald!" Hunter cried out, seeing that the duck pinata had dropped to the ground with a small thud. His head was spinning like a bobble head, his eyes spinning around as if he was very dizzy. The Ruffian, however, looked quite pumped, and launched another attack. Hunter wanted to yell something and stop it, but he seemed frozen to his spot as the little duck fell into the soft grass below. The Ruffian had cheered and snarled just before it took off out of the garden, leaving the gardener in disbelief. Now little Donald was just lying on the ground, sickly green and breathing heavily. Hunter recognized that color of green, and he knew he had to act quickly.

_Please still work, please still work,_ Hunter silently pleads, reaching a shaking hand towards the cracked alert system. With shaky breaths and his teary eyes, he almost cried out in joy when the screen came on and was still able to work.

"Hold on Donald, I won't let the reaper take you," Hunter says in a cracked voice, his hands typing quickly to the Doctor's number Leafos had put into the system. He tried his best not to look at the twisted tree that laid just outside his garden.

* * *

It was quite a frantic search. Eddie was unfortunate enough to arrive just as the races were over and people were leaving. He was certain Karisa had walked this way, and he knew what he had to look for.

_Blonde braid, Flutterscotch mask, _The basic description repeated over and over in his head, and he had to make many pardons as he gently pushed his skinny figure through the crowd.

"Ah, why, just why?" Sounds a voice of distress. Eddie recognized the voice, and went right to the source. He knew it was Ethan, and was proven correct as he approached the tiny crowd.

It was a sad sight indeed. Ethan was face-first on the dirty ground, his arms and legs spread out all over the place. he was groaning both in anger and disbelief, meaning that he did not win the race. His father, Willy, was standing over him, trying to make his son feel better.

"Come on Ethan, it was your first race. You can't always expect to win you know," he said, trying his hardest not to laugh at the display. His daughter, Maddie, was laughing her little tail off as she leaned against the railing, tears ready to flow from her eyes. The whole thing was a disaster- maybe not at first, but near the end. Flapjack was winning the race, actually a few yards ahead of it's competition. Just before it was able to cross the finish line, it had tripped over it's own papery hooves and had fallen flat on it's face, allowing the Zumbug and the Horstatio to get ahead and take the gold away. Lottie was so unhappy about the outcome that she simply left, hoping that scamming a few chocolate coins from her costumers would make her feel a little better with no golden trophy to display.

"Yeah, you will do much better next time," Sahari says, a gently smile on her face as she kneeled down, patting Ethan on his bluish grey hair. Ethan did not respond, and instead mumbled something to himself into the dirt floor. Eddie wasn't sure what had happy, and it did spark his curiosity, but what caught his attention before was the blonde that was standing off to the side with a sympathy look on her quiet face.

"Excuse me, Ms. Karisa?" Eddie sounded out, looking right at the gardener. Karisa turned her attention to Eddie, squeaking and turning bright pink upon eye contact. Everyone else recognized the voice as well and turned to see their purple-haired friend.

"Well, if it isn't Eddie! How are ya, guv?" Willy said, placing his fists on his hips as he smiled at the young man. Eddie returned the smile, although the man's grungy shirt was quite a bother to his sight.

"I'm doing just fine Mr. Builder. I just came by to return something, but it seems I have walked in on a bad time," He says, glancing down at the ground where Ethan was pouting. Sahari looks up, shrugging.

"His Flapyak lost the race," Sahari says. "It tripped over it's own hooves."

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that," Eddie said with deep sympathy. Ethan only grunted, lifting his head up only to rest his chin in the dirt. Eddie looked away from him, deciding not to go any further with his apologies.

"Now, I don't mean to change the subject, but I was wondering- hm," Eddie stopped himself, looking around. He could have sworn that a moment ago Karisa was just there, but it seemed that she had disappeared.

"Wondering what? If the race was over?" Maddie managed to say after she had calmed down. Of course her tone was sarcastic, as the race had been over for a few minutes.

"I thought I saw Karisa standing here a moment ago," Eddie said, just before tapping a finger to his chin. "At least, I believe her name is Karisa."

"Yeah, but why do you need to talk to her?" Ethan asked, looking up. Eddie held out the lilac alert system.

"I believe she dropped her alert system, and I wanted to return it before it was missed," he said. Sahari smiled, although she turned away slightly. Eddie always was doing stuff like this for girls, whether they left something behind or whatnot. The fact that he brought it back for Karisa, who was already too shy to talk to the purple-haired boy, and that Karisa was much to flushed to even deal with the return of her missing alert system.

Still, the question was- where did the blonde gardener go?

"I could have sworn she was here a second ago," Sahari said, looking around the track. Eddie let out a slight sight, running his fingers through his hair.

"Well, I am sorry to have troubled you then. Maybe she-"

"She's hiding behind my dad," Ethan said, pointing over to Willy. The builder raised a brow, trying to look over his shoulders. He lets out a loud chuckle, reaching behind him and gently pulling Karisa out into view. Her face was bright pink, and she was messing with the sleeves of her shirt.

"Come on Karisa, don't be shy!" Willy teases, gently pushing her forward. Karisa takes in a deep breath, looking over at Eddie. She had to force the voice out of her throat in order to say something.

"Y-Yes?" She manages to squeak, shaking slightly. Eddie notices, and keeps a smile on his face as he holds her discarded alert system out towards her.

He speaks in a very gentle tone. "I think you dropped this when we bumped into each other earlier." Karisa looks away, taking it from his hands without another thought.

"Thank you," She says in a quiet voice, holding her alert system with two hands close to her chest. She could hear Sahari and Maddie snickering on the side, and looking at the ground, she could see Ethan's face back in the dirt as he tried to hold back a laugh. Eddie didn't know what was so funny, although he continued to talk to the gardener.

"No need to be shy, lots of people have lost their alert systems before," he says. Karisa nods, turning away slightly. Eddie just became more confused, looking over at her giggling friends.

"Was it something I said?" He whispers, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. Sahari shook her head and shared a bit of an eye roll.

"Oh, she's really shy. She's always like that around people she doesn't know very well," the desert dweller says, smirking over at Karisa. Maddie nods.

"Don't worry. She will warm up eventually," the girl says, looking down at Ethan. "Now we just need to get the baby up and we can go."

"I can't go back to the village Maddie. I was an embarrassment," He mutters. Willy sighs, leaning down towards his son.

"Your not an embarrassment son. Although, I can't say the same for Flapjack," Willy says, looking onto the track. The Flapyak was just sitting on the track, looking quite sorry for himself. Ethan sighed, finally sitting up.

"I guess. I have to run him home anyway," Ethan mutters. Maddie and Sahari shake their heads, deciding to turn their attention back towards Eddie. Unfortunately for Karisa, Eddie wasn't fond of shyness. He didn't mean it in a rude manner, just as a way of people hiding away. Especially since he felt this girl was quite familiar, although he hasn't talked to her until today.

"You know, you do look quite familiar to me, although I can't quite put my finger on it," Eddie says to the shy gardener. Karisa looks over slightly, shifting her feet.

"I-I ran into you e-earlier ago," she says. Eddie shakes his head with a slight chuckle.

"No no, I mean-"

"Eddie, calm down, you're coming on too strong," Maddie teases, looking over at Karisa's flushed expression. The girl looked half ready to faint- not only was Eddie sweet enough to bring back her, but the fact that he was trying to _talk _to her made it more over whelming. Especially since she was looking like a fool and not saying anything, and with Maddie and Sahari making whispering random comments, adding more awkward to this whole situation.

Eddie was always one to notice things in awkward situations, and decided to break the ice a little more as Willy left to go get the Flapyak.

"Ethan, I am dreadfully sorry to hear about your Flapyak's race," Eddie starts, looking over at his builder friend. Ethan shrugs, putting a hand on the back of his head.

"Eh, it happens," Ethan says, finally getting back to his old self. Eddie smiles, looking at all of his friends and ignoring the yells of Willy as the Flapyak charges at him in the background.

"If it will make you feel any better, maybe we could all go hang out at Arfur's Inn," Eddie suggests. Ethan thinks for a moment before he shrugs.

"Yeah. As long as you buy me some food though. I'm starved," He says. Eddie chuckles, already knowing he was going to have to.

"How about you girls? Karisa, why don't you- Where are you going?" Eddie asks, catching Karisa just as she started to slowly slip away. She looks over her shoulder, biting the nail of her index finger as she did so.

"Uh, I h-have to get back to m-m-my garden," She manages to say, shutting her eyes and walking away even quicker then before. Eddie pouts slightly, crossing his arms with his famous clipboard still in hand.

"She is so shy- almost adorable in it's own way," He says out loud. Sahari lets out a snort, glancing over at Eddie.

"Don't worry. She will warm up to you sooner then you think," Sahari said, elbowing Maddie in the girl's side. Maddie nods, rolling the sleeves up on her shirt.

"In the meantime," The Builder girl starts before she breaks out into a full run. "KARISA VANFLOSS! GET BACK HERE!" Karisa turns around and screams when she sees Maddie running at her for a tackle. She holds up her arms for defense and is tackled into the dirt below. Sahari and Eddie both stare with their eyes wide in surprise, while Ethan just mutters "Not again" just under his breath.

* * *

**Sorry if the ending is a little rushed. I had to get up at 6:00 this morning for a charity walk, and I am dead tired, and I seriously need to update. So here you go :P More to come soon though~**


	5. Chapter 5

Patch couldn't help but giggle the whole way back to his clinic. Sure, it was childish, but he couldn't help it. The race was just absolutely hilarious, although he did feel a bit bad for Ethan. With the Flapyak falling over, it was was both hilarious, as well as a large disappointment.

_Poor kid. It was his first race too, _the doctor thinks to himself as he slowly drives back in his little red car. He started to drift into his thoughts when his alert system suddenly beeped, and he was quick to check it.

"L-looks like a c-case," Patch stammers, turning on the flashing lights of his car and stepping on the pedal. It wasn't long before he had sped out of the village, and was on his way down to the unsuspecting garden.

* * *

Karisa couldn't believe this was happening. Not only was the front of her shirt covered in dirt stains, but she was stuck in a booth at Arfur's Inn. She allowed Maddie to drag her all the way there with everyone, not wanting to cause any more of a scene, but the girl had shoved her into a booth and sat in front of her to make sure Karisa couldn't cluckle out and run. What made it even worse?

Eddie sat right across from her.

"Okay, I know Flapjack had hit his head before as a baby, but come on! He hasn't tripped like that in years," Ethan complained, waving his straw around in the air. He had just taken it out of his milkshake, and the frothy drink was flickering off of the thing and onto everyone. Eddie made a face, but said nothing as he used his napkin to wipe the chocolate off of his cheek, not even noticing that Karisa was watching him do so. When he had turned to look at her, she would look away, and would pretend to be more interested in her water then his pretty face.

"So Karisa, tell me about your garden. You are a gardener, correct?" he asked, folding his hands together on the wooden table. Karisa became flustered, tapping her index fingers nervously.

"Y-Yeah..." she says in a hushed voice, barely even audible. Ethan raises a brow, looking over the table.

"When did this go from my race to Karisa's garden?" He asked. Sahari hushed him right away, giving him an intense look. Ethan frowns, and starts to pout. The silent conversation continued as Sahari rolled her eyes, and Ethan came to realization to what Eddie was doing.

_Dammit, of course. He's doing it again, _Ethan thought bitterly. It was the same way when Eddie was trying to break in Patch and his shyness. It also happened to be a lunch date on the day he had lost the P-Factor due to his Sweetooth trying to do a trick and ending up falling off of the stage.

... His pinatas aren't the smartest, you have to admit.

"What do you have in your garden? Do you have a preferred pinata?" Eddie asks, continuing to get her to speak. Karisa shrugs.

"N-not really," This whole thing was awkward. Karisa never really talks about herself in general, and right now didn't help at all. Especially the awkward silence her friends were making.

"She has a variety, mostly Ponockies and Goobaas, as well as every color of-"

"Maddie, please let her speak," Eddie says politely. Maddie frowns, and sharply kicks him underneath the table in his sensitive shin. Eddie puffs out his cheeks, holding back a scream as his purple eyes glared over at her slightly. Even though he was typically polite to most girls, Maddie was not one he was too formal with.

"Sh-She was s-saying Fl-Fluttersc-scotches," Karisa finished. Eddie smiled at her despite the tears in his eyes.

"Oh really? Must be very colorful I presume," he comments. Sahari elbows Maddie's side, shaking her head in shame. Ethan wasn't even paying attention anymore as he was playing games on his alert system while he waited for the food to come.

"I-I grow a lot of fl-flowers," Karisa almost whispers, looking down at the napkin her fingers were playing with. Eddie frowned slightly, as he did not approve of her avoiding his face. Even Patch wasn't as bad as this!

"I would have thought you would have a lot of Galagoogoos, you know," Eddie says. Karisa raises a brow, a little confused as to why he would think that. Sahari looks over, shaking her head at him.

"Eddie, don't," She warns. She knew exactly what the boy was going to do. Eddie just ignored her as his hand reached across the table to Karisa's chin. Karisa was now looking at him, and her face heated up like a Redhotts bum.

"You have really big eyes like one, you know," Eddie comments, looking right at her. Right then and there, Karisa lost it as she shook her head away from his touch.

"M-Maddie, let me out," She warned, her stomach starting to act up. Maddie looks over at Sahari, her eyes wide.

"Move, move, move!" Maddie says, shooing Sahari out of the booth. The two girls practically trampled each other as Karisa darted out of the booth, running all the way to the ladies restroom. Puking sounds could have been heard. Sahari looked over at Eddie.

"Way to go Eddie. You made her puke," the desert dweller said to him, a frown on her mask. Eddie just looked hopelessly confused.

"I don't understand- what did I do?" He asked. Ethan didn't look up as he answered.

"Karisa tends to puke if her anxiety acts up," He answers. Eddie frowns, feeling sorry for the poor girl. He wasn't trying to come onto her or anything, he just wanted some eye contact!

"Oh that poor thing. I didn't mean to make her puke," He says in an apologetic tone. Sahari laughs a bit, taking a seat for a moment.

"Eddie, just stop trying. Karisa is a lost cause," she says. "Besides, I don't understand what it is with you having to flirt with her right away." Eddie's eyes widened.

"I was not flirting with her!"

"You were touching her chin and complimenting her eyes. Eddie, that's flirting," Sahari was very confident in her answer as she placed one hand on her tiny hip. Eddie pouted, crossing his arms.

"I don't think I was being flirty. Was I Ethan? Ethan?" Eddie asked, getting the builder's attention. Ethan just smirked as he continued to type away at his alert system.

"Status update: laughing really hard right now. Why? Eddie just made Karisa puke," Ethan muttered aloud, just to annoy his fretting friend. Maddie had taken her own alert system out to like the status, only annoying the other two even further.

Meanwhile, Karisa stepped out of the stall, wiping a little thing of puke off of the corner of her mouth. She wanted to cry- she was so embarrassed right now! Why did Eddie have to say that to her? Sure, he was just being friendly, but...

Karisa sighs as she washed her hands off in the sinks. She dried them off with the paper towels provided, and tosses them away in the garbage. First time she actually gets to sit down with Eddie, and not only can she not speak, but she has to go puke as soon as he started to be sweet. Her lips blow a small raspberry as she looks in the mirror. Well, time to face the music.

She timidly walked out of the bathroom, crossing her arms as she walked back over to the booth. She slowly takes a seat, avoiding all eye contact. As the awkward silence set in, someone had to break it.

"So... feel any better?" Ethan asked.

"Really Ethan? That's what you're going to ask her?" Maddie says, looking at her older brother in disbelief. Ethan shrugged, swishing the bangs away from his face. Karisa nods, forcing herself to look over at Eddie. Despite the event, he just looked over and smiled, as if he could care less about her embarrassing activity.

"Um... s-sorry about that," She manages to say, shifting her feet underneath the table. Eddie waves it off, as if it were nothing.

"Don't worry about it. I should be apologizing, especially since I caused it," He continues on before anyone can say anything as a retort. "It's all behind us now though." Eddie felt his alert system vibrate, and excuses himself to check it. It was only a message from Sahari, and all it had was a smiley face.

"Why did you send me a smiley face?" he asked, giving his desert friend a confused look. Sahari smiled cutely.

"I didn't have a sticker to give you for your good behavior," she says innocently, as if she was literally trying to be cute. Eddie just frowns at her while everyone snickers- even Karisa, who had to look the other way to do so. At least she wasn't the only one who was having a hard time here.

* * *

Tears were falling all over the sick Quackberry. Although Hunter did not know the formal name for Donald quite yet, he was huddled over the poor thing, and he couldn't stop the salted tears from falling. He hadn't known Donald long, but he was already close with the little duck, and he wasn't ready to lose another pinata to the reaper. No, not so soon after the Bunnycomb.

"Come on, Doctor, come on," Hunter said anxiously, looking around frantically. Thankfully Dastardos wasn't in sight, but at the same time, neither was the doctor.

Suddenly, as if a miracle had happened, there was the sound of a siren.

"D-Don't fret! I-I'm coming!" Yells a stuttering voice. Hunter thanks whoever was in charge of the skies as he looks over and sees a small red car zooming towards the garden. At first Hunter wasn't sure what to think- all he saw was the large monkey head and little clown car, and he thought maybe the circus was in town. But when he saw a stethoscope and a white coat, he was ninety-eight percent sure it was the doctor.

"Oh, what a bother, Patchie. It seems I have arrived as well," Dastardos' chilling voice suddenly sounded, sending chills and Juicygoosebumps all over his arms and spine. With a shaky look of his head, Hunter looks over to see the twisted red mask with the bad teeth. His feet barely touched the ground as he floated in that one spot, his silvery hair brushing along with the wind. It wasn't very long, but long enough to be a little ruffled by the gentle breezes. A nasty smirk was on his face while he had his whacking stick in hand.

The reaper and the doctor were eye to eye now. Patch's bright blue eyes were looking right past his blonde bangs, right at Dastardos' pale silver eyes intensely. Even for a shaky doctor like him, he had kept his balance, refusing to look the slightest bit shaky with Dastardos in his presence, especially with a young gardener watching. On this inside though, he was shaking worse then a Pienna lost in the Pinarctic.

"J-Just go away Dastardos. Give the kid a break," Patch was the first to speak, and his sentence was almost flawless without a stutter. The reaper chuckled, placing a bony fist on his skinny hip. He didn't bother to say anything- the doctor didn't scare him in the least bit. Although he knew he had to move, seeing that Patch was already a few paces closer. He shot a quick glare over at Hunter, who was pretty much covering the sick Quackberry with his upper body. Hunter was staring at the reaper in fear, his dark eyes wide and teary.

Oh how Dastardos was going to have fun with this.

"It's great to see you again, little _boy_," He sneered the last word. Hunter shivered, cowering back a little bit.

"Yeah, missed you too," He said, his tone a bit sarcastic and cold. Dastardos rolled his eyes as he floated closer, unwrapping his arms from one another. They both fell and hung on both sides of his ghostly form, and a disgusting smirk on his face.

"No use trying to hide it. I'm already here for it anyway," Dastardos says, a bit of a humming down dancing off of the lips of his mask as he inched closer and closer. Although he didn't see that Patch had already moved closer as well, and was shocked when a bunch of green liquid suddenly flew out in front of him all over the boy and his sick Quackberry.

"I'm sorry, but I b-believe this was m-my patient," Patch manages to sneer, and sounding a bit triumphant as he said it. With some of the medicine dripping down his face, Hunter looked down and watched as Donald's head lifted up from the ground, now the right shade of dark green and white. The young blonde smiled and hugged his pinata the best he could have.

"Donald, I'm so glad you're alright! Please don't ever try to take on a Ruffian again, okay?" Hunter says, pulling back to look at his Quackberry. Donald managed a small nod, still a little wary from the medicine. In a moment he will be fully recovered and be ready to fly around again.

Patch just smiled as he watched the two bond a bit. It always made him happy to see a pinata get better, especially when it would bond with it's gardener right afterward. Unfortunately, even though it was a wonderful sight to him, Dastardos did not agree. He lost some perfectly good life candy because Dr. Goody-two-shoes had to butt in last second. With a deep growl, Dastardos floated forward and struck the doctor in the face as hard as he could with his pinata stick. Patch's head turned so quickly that it was a miracle his neck didn't snap right in half.

"I _dare _you to get in my way again, Patchy," the reaper growls, and with a scoff over his shoulder, he turned and retreated to the twisted tree. Patch held back a tear as he held his bruising cheek, the taste of blood noticeable on the inside of his cheek. Hunter just stared up with wide eyes.

"Ouch. That had to hurt," he muttered, half to himself. Patch turned his head, trying to give the younger a reassuring smile.

"D-Don't worry, it d-doesn't hurt t-too bad," he lies. "Well, I m-must be g-g-going-"

"Wait!" Hunter shouted. Patch looked down.

"Y-yes?"

"... Can you help me get back in my wheelchair? It would be easier to thank you if my face wasn't in the grass..." Hunter says goobaaishly. With a glance at the over-turned wheelchair, Patch nods, and steps out of his red car to help the gardener.


End file.
